While some people get by with a small to medium-sized vehicle, many parents with families in tow need large people carriers. They offer cavernous space inside and some cars can even seat up to seven people, including the driver. Family cars are useful for the short-haul school run journeys and long-distance motorway journeys alike.
It’s no secret that most people in the United Kingdom drive a manual car. You don’t need me to talk to you about the advantages that a manual car offers. But, it seems that automotive technology is influencing car buyers to opt for automatics instead!

Just twenty years ago, you’d only find a few automatic cars on the road. And many of those would typically be high-end cars like Jaguars and BMWs. Today, it’s not unusual to see even small hatchbacks such as the Volkswagen Golf with an automatic gearbox of some description.

If you’re in the market for a new car, should you ditch the clutch and go for an auto box model? The answer is yes, in case you wondered! Confused? Let me explain why that makes perfect sense:

They use less fuel

An automatic that uses less fuel than a manual? Surely that’s got to be some kind of mistake, I hear you exclaim! The truth is, today’s modern automatic transmissions are electronic. Their computer brains make thousands of decisions a second and work with the main ECU in the car.

As a result, a new automatic car can shift up or down quicker than you can in a manual. Don’t believe me? There’s a tonne of evidence online to support that fact!

They are super easy to drive

When you get into an automatic car, you’ll notice that you’ve only got two pedals; the brake and the accelerator! You don’t have to change gears manually in an automatic, so there’s no need for a clutch pedal. Simply stick the gear lever into “Drive” and away you go!

Of course, going from a manual to an automatic can take a lot of getting used to. As strange as the suggestion is, you may wish to consider taking a couple of driving lessons to get used to driving an automatic.

You can still drive the car like a manual (sort of)

There are various types of automatic transmissions in use today. The most popular type is the dual-clutch and Tiptronic designs. They have the typical Park, Reverse, Neutral and Drive gears that you’d expect in an auto. However, you can shift up or down five or more gears as if you were in a manual. The only difference is, you don’t need to use a clutch to shift!

No clutch replacement costs

All manual car drivers know that a clutch needs to get replaced every so often in a vehicle’s lifetime. With an automatic, you never need to do that! In fact, most transmissions only need an oil change every 100,000 miles.

So, when will you take the plunge and buy an automatic family workhorse? There’s plenty to choose from nowadays, so you’ll be spoilt for choice!